As the figure on the stage bowed solemnly toward the viewing area which was now mostly empty, the people standing behind him also leaned over at the same time and joined him in bowing toward the deserted audience seats.
"exist!!exist!!!"
A series of hoarse but firm shouts rang out from the seemingly empty auditorium. The voices were so dry that they seemed a little unpleasant to the ear, but each shout seemed to use up all of the strength.
As if he was afraid that Xue Lan couldn't see it, he raised the sign in his hand with all his strength and stood up from his seat: "Exist!"
But his shouting and standing up attracted Xue Lan's attention, and also attracted the attention of the security guard who was temporarily dispatched because too many people left the venue. The security guard hurriedly ran towards him and motioned for him to sit down.
The fat man looked at the security guards rushing towards him and Xue Lan who was already looking in his direction from afar, and simply shouted loudly again:
"exist! Believe in yourself!! I will always support you!!!"
Xue Lan watched in surprise as the fat man was dragged away by two security guards. It was not until someone behind him patted him on the shoulder that he came to his senses and left the scene surrounded by several teammates.
He once thought that as long as he had Duan Wenzheng and a few teammates by his side, and had unshakable beliefs and persistence in his dreams, for him, all persistence would have meaning and motivation.
But this world has a voice.
There will be people who try their best, no matter how little, to get in front of you, hoping that it can be the motivation and courage for you to persevere.
Xie Zhinian had been waiting backstage, and when he saw the few people coming off the stage, he hurried over to greet them. Like everyone else, he held Xue Lan's shoulder before he even opened his mouth to speak.
"Exist, you did a great job. Really great."
Xie Zhinian patted Xue Lan's shoulder heavily, and suddenly felt that the boy in front of him had grown up without him noticing. He put his arm around Xue Lan's shoulder and walked towards the lounge: "Don't pay attention to the comments on the Internet. Although these things have been exposed by people with ulterior motives, we are not unprepared. Leave these things to me, you relax and concentrate on playing the game."
"I..." Xue Lan followed him and gradually stopped: "The boss..."
Xie Zhinian paused, and he pondered for a moment: "Boss... he is in a meeting."
"I understand." Xue Lan nodded and walked quietly into the lounge under Xie Zhinian's concerned gaze.
Xue Lan put down the keyboard bag temporarily, and then asked again: "What are people saying online now?"
"Towards the end of your first game, someone posted an anonymous post." Xie Zhinian carefully observed Xue Lan's expression while turning on the computer and pushing it in front of him: "Although there have been some... unexpected problems, don't worry too much."
Xue Lan took the computer and looked at the anonymous post together with his teammates who had gathered around him.
#Shocking news, LGW active players come out publicly#
"… "
This title made Xue Lan's head buzz. Such an unclear title naturally attracted a lot of people's attention. Not to mention Wen Yan and Duan Wenzheng, even Zhou Kanqing and Lu You had a lot of technical fans.
Posting explosive information in the name of a team is really a desperate attempt to attract attention.
Xue Lan gritted his teeth and clicked on the post.
The more I looked at it, the colder I felt in my heart.
The post initially revealed that someone had been using abnormal means to deceive fans for a long time, and announced that the hammer would be revealed soon.
After his popularity gradually gathered, he leisurely released the first picture.
That was Xue Lan's check-in information at the International Hotel.
There is a clear gender label on it: male.
"During this period, we have tried our best to clear all your previous photos and videos from the Internet." Xie Zhinian explained, "But there are still many haters who keep them privately, so..."
Xue Lan nodded, signaling him to rest assured, and then continued to look down.
Amid the indignation and sarcasm of the crowd, Xue Lan flipped through the replies and fixed his eyes on one of them again.
Chigua164: No way? Pretending to be a woman is fine, but he has been pretending to be a woman to pester Yanshen for many years... Now that I think about it, it's really scary [picture][picture][picture]
This reply posted many pictures, all of which were solid evidence that Xue Lan had publicly confessed his love for Wen Yan many times, blocked Wen Yan's qualifying match, and harassed Wen Yan after watching the game.
This reply instantly made everyone in the lounge look unhappy.
"It is basically certain that this account is the smurf of the original poster." Xie Zhinian said angrily, "This person just keeps piling up revelations. The popularity of the posts has been pushed up by him, and no matter how we reduce the weight, it won't go down!!"
Xue Lan glanced awkwardly at Wen Yan, who was standing beside her with a tense expression.
Wen Yan said in a deep voice: "Let's see what else he said."
Upon hearing this, Xue Lan hurriedly scrolled down. Wen Yan's fans and CP fans were all furious at this moment. This was tantamount to the real host personally tearing up the CP, which instantly destroyed the CP fans' hearts. Wen Yan's fans even turned against Xue Lan automatically because Wen Yan was dragged into the water innocently.
Wen Yan's fans and his and Xue Lan's CP fans can be said to occupy half of the e-sports fan circle. As solid as their former dominance was, their collapse at this moment is as sensational.
The hot searches were paralyzed and the topic was pushed to the top by the angry masses.
Xue Lan scrolled down again with a heavy heart and saw another explosive post.
Which e-sports house is the most exposed: You CP fans are just blinded, what CP, pretending to be a woman to seduce Wind is nothing, didn’t someone reveal before that he had an ambiguous relationship with a well-known film and television boss, and the boss even spent a lot of money on him? [Picture][Picture]
Zhou Kanqing couldn't help but secretly glance at Duan Wenzheng, and saw that his face was indeed dark. Zhou Kanqing hurriedly cleared his throat awkwardly: "Hasn't this matter been clarified before? Why are you digging it up again?"
Xue Lan looked at Duan Wenzheng cautiously, and Duan Wenzheng casually pressed Xue Lan's head: "See what else he said."
Xue Lan quickly scrolled down the post, and sure enough, amid the scolding, a man claiming to be a fan of Zhou Kanqing stood up.
lpel's official girlfriend: Scalpel used to play well in the attacking position. If it weren't for him, how could he become a back-end attacker? This person who is used to using gender to deceive people has established a foothold in LGW so quickly... and even became the captain. Could it be that he has an affair with the club's owner
Zhou Kanqing, who had originally expressed sympathy for Duan Wenzheng, suddenly felt his blood pressure rise: "Is this my fucking fan? My fans are all gentle, cute and reasonable, this can't be possible!! What nonsense is he talking about here? I can fight anyone I want, no one will believe him, right?"
Zhou Kanqing said this and hurriedly scrolled down the webpage, only to actually see many people echoing his words.
"Why do these people think they know the truth of the matter just by looking at a few one-sided sentences online, and even use the banner of upholding justice?! With just a few malicious and rumor-mongering messages and a few one-sided screenshots, these people can say they understand everything?"
Zhou Kanqing was so angry that he pressed his philtrum directly: "No! I'm going to post a blog to clarify. I am willing to play the back position. What does it have to do with Lanlan?!"
"Okay." Wen Yan patted Zhou Kanqing on the shoulder. "Even if you explain this, it will only add more heat to these posts. People who only know about others from other people's mouths will not care about the truth. If you reply to the message, it will only make them more irritable."
"What should we do then?"
Zhou Kanqing slumped back in his seat dejectedly.
"wait."
"wait?"
"Since this post has been constantly leaking information to increase the popularity, it is very likely that he is waiting for an opportunity to release the final information."
"Information? Anything else?" Zhou Kanqing subconsciously looked at Duan Wenzheng, but was afraid of being discovered by others, so he quickly changed the subject and said, "The game is over, Lei Ting can go back home, what else do they want to reveal after the game?"
"What if..." Lu You paused and said hesitantly, "Do you want to keep it as a souvenir after they win the game?"
Zhou Kanqing instantly felt that what he said made a lot of sense, but he changed his mind and thought: "Now that they have lost, they are all going back to their hometowns. What is there to commemorate?"
"What if it's a fight to the bitter end?"
Lu You's words made Zhou Kanqing gasp in surprise.
"According to Huo Ran's usual style, this possibility is very high." Wen Yan nodded slightly: "Brother Nian has already responded to the gender issue using the club account as soon as possible. As for other issues, we will wait and see if they have any next steps before responding."
"Then should the club account respond to the other questions..."
Wen Yan shook his head: "Let's go back to the hotel."
Everyone just agreed, Xue Lan was about to return the computer to Xie Zhinian, but found that there was another explosive post under the post -
Did it close down today: I saw a lot of people asking why LGW didn't respond to follow-up questions in the post. I heard a piece of gossip before. My friend is in LGW, and he told me that their boss has always been "special" to exist, and even sends small gifts back from various places when he is on a business trip. It's only exist, and other team members don't have such differential treatment... It's really hard not to think wrongly.
There have been a lot of follow-up posts below, and the storm of public opinion has finally reached its peak at this moment.
Everyone seemed to have received another piece of evidence, and connected it with the stories of Xue Lan and Wen Yan, and Xue Lan and Duan Wenzheng's father, and thus concluded that Xue Lan was a person who used pretending to be a girl to get along with everyone.
"What's wrong?" Zhou Kanqing saw that Xue Lan didn't move, and approached him suspiciously, wanting him to pack up quickly, but he saw the follow-up of the post...
"Fuck?!" Zhou Kanqing was so angry that he was shaking all over: "Inside LGW? Who?!"
Attracted by his voice, everyone focused their attention on the screen again, with different expressions on their faces.
"He's not from the team." Wen Yan put away the computer neatly and signaled everyone to move faster.
"How do you know it's not? This post says it..."
"What the post said may not be true. Their purpose is to sow discord between us." Wen Yan handed the collected computer to Xie Zhinian and said calmly, "If you believe it, then his purpose has been achieved."
"But… "
"Is it... Glory?" Wen Yan's words quickly calmed Xue Lan down. He recalled what happened a few days ago and suddenly remembered that one day when Xie Zhinian brought back a gift for Xue Yuanshan, they were playing a practice match with Glory.
Wen Yan nodded carefully: "Shen Rong said that he has basically confirmed who that person is. Let's talk about this after we get back. The post has just been exposed and the matter has not yet fermented. Let's leave now."
After hearing this, Xue Lan and the others packed up their things and walked out of the stadium together.
"It's okay." Zhou Kanqing was relieved when this matter was exposed: "I thought it was something else, but it turned out to be just this? This matter is the easiest to explain!"
Duan Wenzheng beside him seemed to remember something: "You knew it a long time ago?"
“…” Zhou Kanqing shut up awkwardly, pretending that he had not said anything just now.
"Know what?" Lu You asked doubtfully, "What are you talking about?"
The atmosphere finally eased a little as several people talked.
But just as they walked through the contestant channel, they saw a group of angry fans gathered outside the door. This group of people was stopped by security personnel, and when they saw them coming out, they immediately shouted angrily.
The eyes of several people unconsciously tensed again.
"Don't look at it, just get back to the car."
Wen Yan patted Xue Lan on the back as he spoke. Zhou Kanqing hurriedly walked to the front of the group. The pedestrians did not dare to stop for a moment and walked along the road blocked by security towards the parked car.
"LGW, don't do nothing! If exist quits the team, don't drag down other teammates!!"
"Exist withdrew from the competition! Don't bring shame to our team!"
“Exist, get out of the e-sports circle!!”
…
Such voices were not on the Internet, but appeared next to him in real life. At this moment, the anger of the crowd came like a tidal wave, and he was almost unable to breathe.
"Bah! What are you talking about!?" The fat man's hoarse and sharp voice rang out from behind the crowd: "How can it be embarrassing for him to play the game well? Aren't you the ones who are embarrassing yourself abroad?!"
The fat man was naturally answered with insults and disdain from the crowd, and someone even snatched the sign from the fat man and threw it on the ground. The fat man angrily pushed the person away, and in this tug of war, the scene fell into chaos.
"Get in the car."
Wen Yan's voice brought Xue Lan back to his senses. He stiffly retracted his steps that were about to rush over to help, gritted his teeth and followed Zhou Kanqing as they quickly walked towards the car. The distance that was usually very short now seemed exceptionally long.
"If exist is a man, just answer! Are you really used to pretending to be a woman?"
"Exist, don't drag down your teammates! Let reset go!!"
"Exist is not worthy of being an eSports player!!"
"The bad player let reset go! His career has just begun!!"
…
Xue Lan stopped, his face already pale.
He knew he was wrong.
When it comes to the issue of gender, no matter how many reasons he has, everyone still feels deceived.
But he didn't know why, even though he tried his best and took every game seriously, he was still questioned in the end as being unworthy of being an e-sports player and a bad player who dragged down his teammates.
Duan Wenzhen's pace gradually slowed down, and his cold expression was now filled with an oppressive chill.
It was like a violent storm brewing.
Before either of them could say anything, they were pushed by the people behind them and continued to walk towards the car.
Wen Yan pushed the two of them to the front of the car without saying a word. At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly threw a signboard at Xue Lan. Xue Lan was anxiously looking in the direction of the fat man, and in the noise, he didn't notice the signboard coming at him from behind! !
Duan Wenzhen caught a glimpse of the flying sign out of the corner of his eye. The color instantly drained from his face and he quickly reached out and protected the person next to him in his arms.
Everything happened in an instant.
Xue Lan, who had just been embraced by Duan Wenzheng, didn't know what was going on, but he immediately realized that something was wrong and hurriedly pulled Duan Wenzheng away. However, the light board had already hit Duan Wenzheng's shoulder hard and fell to the ground with a bang.
"Who the hell threw it?!" Zhou Kanqing's angry voice made the surroundings, which were noisy just a few seconds ago, instantly become quiet.
The crowd that had just gathered together dispersed instantly, leaving only a little girl who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old.
She subconsciously tried to escape, but was caught by the quick-eyed and quick-handed security guard.
"Throwing things around... Who threw it away from you?"
Duan Wen Zheng still maintained the same posture as when he was hit. He looked at the girl who was restrained by the security guards, his eyes cold without a trace of warmth.
"Do you know that this behavior is a crime?" Zhou Kanqing was so angry that he wanted to step forward to argue: "Do you know that it was just a little bit away from hitting his head?!"
Maybe it was because of the two people's attitudes that were too scary, or because of the bloodstain on Duan Wenzheng's jaw, but the little girl was frightened and her face turned pale: "No, no, I... I was just careless..."
Xue Lan clenched his fists tightly, his eyes fixed on the girl who was already stumbling over her words, as if he was looking through her into the twisted hearts hidden behind the Internet and anonymity.
Duan Wenzhen's gaze was as deep as a bottomless pool. He pushed Xue Lan, whose eyes were red, into the car without any explanation.
"careless?"
The little girl was frightened by the scene and started crying, but some people around her raised their cell phones.
Seeing this, Wen Yan hurriedly pushed Duan Wenzheng into the car. Seeing that Zhou Kanqing was about to say something else, he joined forces with his companions to push the man into the car.
Duan Wenzheng was very angry about Wen Yan's behavior. He could understand Wen Yan's silence on the rumors, but at this moment, the light board hit him, so he was fine. But if it hit Xue Lan...
Duan Wenzhen was about to get off the car again, but he saw Wen Yan, who was still under the car, walking straight to the little girl who was crying loudly.
"Throwing things around... Who threw it away from you?"
Duan Wenzhen paused.
"Being young is not an excuse for you to make mistakes. You should consider the consequences before doing anything." Wen Yan's voice was neither too high nor too low, but just enough for everyone around to hear. He then said to the security guard beside him in English, "She probably didn't come here by herself. Find a way to notify the parents. If the parents don't cooperate, we will take legal action. We must give an explanation for this matter."
The local European security guard nodded seriously: "We will definitely give you an explanation for this matter."
"You, you are not Yanshen!" The little girl was so scared that she forgot to cry: "Yanshen is not like this, Yanshen is so gentle..."
"Everyone has a bottom line." Wen Yan, who was about to leave, stopped and interrupted her. He spoke every word, not knowing whether it was addressed to her or to everyone present:
“My teammates are my baseline.”
Xue Lan looked through the window at the people with different expressions under the car. Duan Wenzheng withdrew his hand that wanted to open the door again and sat back in his seat. Zhou Kanqing and Lu Youyi sat quietly in the back seat. Everyone was thinking too much at this moment.
However, even if there are thousands of words to say, at this moment, only one sentence remains in each of their hearts, because to them—
My teammates are my baseline.